Mikhail Gorbachev

Claim to fame: The last leader of the Soviet Union as the world knew it. He instituted sweeping reforms which took on a life of their own and eventually ripped apart the USSR. He survived an aborted coup attempt against him by Politburo hardliners in 1991. He resigned as President on December 25th, 1991, when the Soviet Union disintegrated.

Where are they now? He currently heads the Gorbachev Foundation (a Moscow-based think tank), Green Cross International (since 1993), and the Civic Forum movement (since April 1996). He has authored his memoirs in Gorbachev and Memoirs